Chapter 161: Maid Of Honor

Chapter 161: Maid Of Honor

Elena

We sat in silence, I don't know for how long. It could have been hours or just a few minutes. I held her close to me while she cried her eyes out, releasing whatever pain had been locked away inside her.

I was too stunned to speak, Doris was this tough go-getting warrior who I had often looked at as indestructible. Seeing her look this fragile and this broken tore something within me. She moved away from me, slowly drying off her eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were completely flushed. I wanted to pull her into me again but I wasn't sure that she wanted that from me.

"I am sorry," she muttered.

"Don't ever apologize for letting your emotions out. I am your friend, Doris, that's what I am here for. Are you okay?"


That was a stupid question to ask, of course, she wasn't okay. She had just been crying in my arms a few minutes ago.

"No," she tried to laugh but it came out mixed with a cry.

"Everything just……it all just feels like….like…..pain. How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Be in love? How did you just allow yourself to fall without caution for Bernard?"

I let out a heavy sigh, I thought over her question, not sure how to answer it.

"The truth is," I licked my lips.

"There was no caution if Bernard and I weren't fated. I don't actually think we would have ever drawn closer to one another. We were in our own heads about a lot of things, we ran from all pulls initially, and then eventually, we just stopped running."

"And then you fall for him?" I shook my head.

"I think I fell in love with him long before then. I knew I had always loved Bernard but the question now was whether I wanted to act on it or not." She nodded and stared blankly into the space.

"Doris?" She turned her head slowly to me.

"What happened yesterday? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I just want to help you." She bit down on her lips hard, I was sure she had drawn blood.

"It is not what happened, it is about what didn't happen."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything about the date was perfect, the location was perfect, and the night was perfect. He was…. perfect." She looked away from me.

"It was me who had the problem, I was so far in my own head that I messed everything up." I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I am sure that what happened wasn't that bad."

Her head snapped back in my direction so fast it even spooked me. She stared at me, her eyes a pool of negative emotions and I could see the despair, anger, and sadness. It was like a toxic poison just brewing inside her, I hated seeing her like this.

"He leaned in to kiss me and I ran like a bloody coward. That's not even the worst part." I remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

"The worst part was that he chased after me, he even tried to call me by the door but I ignored him. He thought that maybe he had been the one at fault, he practically begged me to open the door but I stayed silent like a damn fool. He left after he got tired of waiting. I want it, you know? I want the great love that you and Bernard have. I want to fall in love without caution, I want all of that but I also want control. I like things I can understand and I can't understand Jasper. Love is such an unknown thing and for me, it is scary." She let out a humorless laugh, this was really eating her up.

"I have battled rogues, I trained the best wolves on the entire coast. I spar with men twice my size without fear, yet I can't take a simple step forward towards love. There must be something wrong with me." I shook my head.

"There is nothing wrong with you, along with millions of people, you are cautious when it comes to love. Love takes openness and vulnerability, you are basically handing your heart to someone and trusting them not to shatter it. Giving someone your heart is like giving them all of you, there is nothing to hide and nowhere to run when it comes to falling in love. You aren't broken, Doris. This is just the humanness in you showing, that we are half-human after all. We are not all the way a beast." She nodded.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before she got up and offered me a hand, hoisted me to my feet.

"I am heading back home now, I know we were meant to train but my heart is not in it today, and I…."

"Doris," I placed my hands on her shoulders.

"It is okay, I understand. Take as much time as you need, I will be right here when you are up to it again."

She pulled me into a hug and then released me from her hold. She walked away, leaving me in the training ground alone. My phone buzzed in my pocket and when I pulled it out, a smile found its way to my lips. It was Alisha, hopefully, this was some good news. I needed something good to celebrate.

I answered the phone and held it up so she could see my face. I was already smiling but when I saw the tears in her eyes and the lack of smile, mine dropped. I guess no good news is coming out today after all.

"What's wrong?"

"Jack and I broke up." She sniffed, and my heart stopped.

"What!"

"He just said that he is tired of us and he needed a change."

The initial shock wore off and what came was this rage I had never felt before. I became angry with Jack, he had told me that he was going to propose to her not to end their relationship.

"Where is he?" I growled.

She turned away from the camera as if she was going to take a moment to gather herself but when she turned back, she was smiling again. She flashed her left hand in front of the screen showing off her engagement ring.

"Gotcha," she laughed and then moved the screen a little back so that both she and Jack could fit in the screen. They were both smiling like they were floating on cloud nine now.

"Damn the two of you, after my bad day, I could really use this kind of news."

"I am happy that I could bring a little light to your life. So the reason I called wasn't just because I wanted to say many thanks to you for helping Jack with all of this but I also had something else I wanted to tell you."

"Okay, I am all ears."

"Well, it is not really me telling you but rather me asking you something." She was literally beaming from every single pore in her body.

"Elena, will you please be my maid of honor at my wedding?" My mouth hung open, and immediately the tears started and I was in a mess.

"Yes, of course, I will be your Maid of Honor. Thank you for thinking of me."

"Honestly, there is no one else I would rather have to stand by my side. You are my best friend, Elena and I want you to be a part of my special day."

I wiped away a few stray tears and looked at her through tear-stained eyes.

"You are my best friend too, I promise to make your day so special."

"I know you will, we have to go now. We need to call Jack's parents and friends but I will call you again tonight. Love you."

"Love you too," I hung up.

My shoulder sagged in relief as the suffocating weight that had been on my shoulder left my body. At least one good thing came out of today. Alisha is happily engaged and I am going to be her Maid of Honor. I am so happy for her but at the same time worried about Doris.

A few hours later, I got home and was on the couch watching some trash reality TV. I heard the front door open, I already knew it was my husband even before he announced himself.

He entered the living room and made himself comfortable beside me. He opened his arms to me, I crawled into his lap and he circled his arms around me and gave me a gentle kiss on the head.

"How was your day?" I drew in closer to his warmth.

"Alisha got engaged today and she asked me to be her Maid of Honor."

"That's great, I had a feeling Jack would do it soon. But why don't you sound too happy about that?"

"Doris and Jasper are in really bad head space right now and it is all my fault. I was the one who had planned the whole date and tried to push them towards each other, I had been wrong about that. I should have never tried to force them to be together, I should have just let them figure it out on their own."

He didn't say anything, he didn't even try to correct me because he knew just like I did that I had been wrong for trying to interfere. This was majorly my fault for trying to force something to bloom that wasn't ready to see the light of the day yet. I knew in my heart that they were right for each other, I had seen the way they had looked at one another that day in the restaurant. There was something there.

I could only hope that they would find their way to one another after all the initial feelings had passed.